Christmas 2009

Lots of snow made a beautiful Christmas.  Jack, Ri, and Mads are sledding with their new friends/family Bobbie and Maggie.

Max, cold and disheartened.  His famous words for the year 2009 are "Gee" (yes), "Mo" (no), "Cock this." (cock this) and finally his triumphant screech of "Red dot! Red Dot!" .  Max has learned to fire a wide range of weapons, from Nerf Star Wars rifles to Nerf machine guns.  His only problem is that he can't cock them.  So he spends ALL day running after me screaming 'Cock this!'.  Even the shower does not afford me a break.  It is just very very cold when the door flies open after every shot.

Mads and Max on Christmas morning.

After 10 years of harboring thoughts of never giving in to technology......I caved.....er Santa caved.

Gotta keep that handsome cropped head nice and toasty.

Maddy wrapped gifts for me and her brothers and sister and made us cards.  All of our gifts were things she just knew we loved.....hand picked from her own valuables.  This is my gift.  It is a box STUFFED with Carebears and a blanket for them.

How can you love anything more than that? 

Mads and Santa

Mads spent the day with Superman when he helped with Spencer's Wishes.

She was able to ride in the Rhino with Santa and see the Jazz Bear.

Mads caught a blanket from the bear and was showered with Jazz confetti.

While Mads had Santa all to herself, she was able to talk his ear off.  When she was telling us about it, Ri said, "Madi can make friends anywhere."  Mads found out that there are in fact 9 reindeer because Rudolph is real.  She also wore Santa's magic glasses.........guess what she saw?  "I saw how much my dad loves me."  I asked her if I put them on what I would see.  She said, "You would see how much I love you."  What a baby doll.      Merry Christmas!

Maddy's 5th Birthday

Well, like anything else you don't want to happen.........it happened anyway.  Piglet turned 5 even when I threatened to ground her.  She wanted to have a princess tea party with a few of the neighborhood princesses. 

Mads had finger foods, cupcakes, and Sprite on her real tea set.

Su[per Max and Princess Madison pre party.

Snuggin' for pics.

The Princess and her court.......and all of her princess loot.

My personally favored gift that she received was the Hannah Montana hair glitter.  I can never thank that mother enough for the joy brought into our home with that fantastic gift.

Who Would You Like To Meet?

The other night we were going home after picking the kids up from Goose's........it was datenight.  We were asking the kids, "If you could meet anyone, who would you like to meet?".    Jack immediately piped up and hollered "Old MacDonald!"   We laughed our heads off.  Ri wants to meet Tony Hawk (skate boarder) and Mads wants to meet the Jonas Brothers (this makes me cringe).  Max just said yeah to everyone elses choices.
********************
Today Mads asked me, "Mom what if you were a 21 year old midget?"   I guess that is something to ponder :)

Ri's Summer Softball

Riley was asked to play with a traveling girl's softball team during the summer.  We didn't want to dedicate the whole summer to one child.......no matter how much we love her so we only let her play one game.  We had SO much fun and so did she.

Tough girls are the bomb!  This was good experience and we hope Ri will be able to fill in for the team next summer.

You Crack Me Up

Jack and Mads are playing farm.  Jack has tied Mads up to a desk with a jump rope.  She is the old dying cow he has to put down.
Mads:  Mooooooo  Mah,     Moooo (writhing in old cow agony)
Jack:  MADDY........why are you covering your vitals?
Mom: Jack what are you doing to her?
Jack:  She's an old cow mom.  I have to put her down but she keeps covering her vitals and I can't get a good shot.

At lunch.....
Mads:  Jack do you know why they call oranges oranges?
Jack:  Why?
Mads:  Because they are oran and ges!

Scah eeee!

Max quickly learned at his first trip to the store after the Halloween section was put out.......it's SCAH EEE!

Here are Superman and I right before the Harvest Ball.  The kids don't take great pictures.  They probably learned that from me. Maimy can describe that better than I can.

Our annual Halloween dinner.  Swamp slime soup with toad stools, poison apples, troll eyes, zombie fingers, bits n' pieces, and witches brew.  Superman made a dry ice b*o*m*b with the left over dry ice.  Nothing like teaching destruction at FHE.

Riley's entry for the school pumpking contest.  The coolest baseball.  It turned out so well.

Jack's ninja turtle pumpkin/watermellon.  Our pumpkins were too cold to use and every store in town had run out!  That's what you get when you procrastinate.

Helper library Halloween party.  Mads is being wrapped up like a mummy for her team.  Go Tenna and Shelby!

Ri donning her mummy garb.Jack has been rather agreeable to social events

because he finally has a great little buddy to take along.  This was the freaking longest game of musical chairs I have ever had to witness.  Thankfully Riley kicked bootay and won a ticket to the Haunted Parkway and Hayride.  We went to that last night.  It was also put on by the Helper Library as a fundraiser for more reading programs.  We had so much fun being pulled by a horse drawn wagon down Main Street and then walking the Haunted Parkway by the edge of the river.  We heard ghost stories around firepits while the river flowed in the background.  The parkway was also a spook alley.  I took the camera but was so involved that I never took a picture!

P.S.  Blogger.......whatever you did........you did something terribly wrong.  I HATE the new post layout.

Haute Coture

It doesn't matter what you wear....boots make an outfit.

Basement Bathroom

Yippee!  The basement bathroom is FINALLY finished.  We waited forever for the plumber to come back and set the toilet. He forgot about us.
I was a little scared about the color of the walls but I was committed not to change it.  Mr. Paint at Spectrum agreed to change the color name from lime green to apple green when I said I wasn't buying anything with lime in the name.  Way to go Mr. Paint.....we made the right choice.  I like it so much I wish it were my bathroom.

New Blog

Well I can't reign myself in so I am starting a new blog that is open.  This one will remain a family/journal sort of blog and the other one will be my ramblings.  It will be based on my BFF Maimy and my struggle to gain control over her. The new blog is naturalmaimy.blogspot.com

Going Private

I'm finally getting off of my lazy duff and making the blog private. I keep using the kid's names and I am sure I am leaking some kind of information. I don't know that anyone would even care who we are........nevertheless..........

Leave a comment with your e mail or you can e mail me or message me on facebook. If you leave a comment I will delete it as soon as I can so that your info. isn't floating around out there.

If you are blog stalking me..........feel free to leave your email too.......I'll be flattered :)

Triple D Treasure Map

For posterity sake I am laying out my Triple D weekend. I don't want to forget a moment and I want to remember how to get back.
After my moments of hysteria began growing closer together, I knew it was time to take a break. The chicks and I hit the road for our Triple D weekend. That would be for Diners, Dives and Drive-ins, not our combined bra sizes.
We checked into a swanky downtown hotel. Every time we get together we have to have our little matchies, once we had jammies, and bags, and this time scarves. We messed around making ourselves into Punky Brewster and gypsies and then hit a sweet little French bakery. After a roast chicken and pesto pannini with a fruit and vinaigrette salad.........we picked up a box of pastries and made out way to an outdoor concert. The night was gorgeous and the music was beautiful.
Hot tubbing was exciting until the weird hairy dude showed up. I tried to ignore him but he wouldn't let me. I had to move on. A can of Coke and a bed free of baby elbows and I called it a night.
Even though it was supposed to be a vacation weekend I couldn't sleep past 7. We headed up the canyon to one of our hot spots from Diners Dives and Drive-ins. The mile high biscuits should have been enough food for a family, but we still managed to squeeze in a whole breakfast. Phenomenal Eggs Benedict.
Pedis were next on the list. The little man that did my feet was Satan's little aesthetics worker. He ripped off my cuticles, sugared my legs until he drew blood and then painted my tootsies Camp Fire orange. Not so relaxing.
Having my body tensed up for 45 minutes put me in the mood for another Triple D. This time we hit a gritty little downtown joint. I couldn't stop myself.........I had a Benedict Omelet....it was filled with glorious hunks of peppered bacon. My cardiac arrest was signed for at that diner.....I'm pretty sure.
I have to spend the rest of the week doing Tae Bo and drinking water (YUCK!).
We spent the rest of the day walking the mall to stave off the bloat. We were nearly evil eyed out of one store for lewd behavior.
Now that's a vacation.

My BFF

My BFF (best friend forever) is a bad influence. I hate everything she stands for...........but I can't seem to break ties. We've been together our whole lives and I don't know what I would do without her. Every single thing I do wrong is 100% her fault.

From my first moment of consciousness I can't shake her. She doesn't want us to get up, especially if it is because Max wants a cup of milk. Uugh, that girl sets me on edge. Of course I have to do all of the work and drag both of us out from under the down comforter and stumble down to the basement to wake up the big guys. 'She' thinks we should just holler from upstairs, but it hasn't ever worked.

I am dedicated to making lunches at least three days a week. School lunch is an atrocious amount of money for an eeeh meal. BFF hates making lunches in the morning. I tried to tell her that it would be easier to start it the night before, but she REALLY likes to put things off.

By the time getting in the sport van to hit the road rolls around..........she actually wants me to leave the babies at home because she doesn't want to strap them in car seats. I can't believe her. BFF is one freaking lazy chick.

I am semi committed to working out a few times a week. I can't take looking like I put on 20 pounds. I will never actually know that for a fact because I don't let BFF weigh herself. That is forbotten at our house. It's about the only rule I can hold her to. She and I strap on our brand new, heavy duty sports bra and hit Tae Bo. BFF HATES Tae Bo and it's all she talks about the WHOLE work out. There have been a few times that she actually talked me out of going. We went back home and cuddled with the baby in bed. I had to enroll her in Tae Bo because the only way she will workout is to have someone yelling at her.

BFF really lacks energy and drive. When we are home during the day with the kids she doesn't want to help put the laundry away, unload the dishwasher........even though Max is willing to help, go to the store (she truly despises putting away the groceries), or mop the floor (she can't get past the fact that she has to sweep first and move all of the chairs........plus I like to hand mop and dry and she says it hurts her knees). Really, can you even stand her? BFF doesn't even like to shower. It's like pulling teeth. Come on........showering is necessary to even feel human. But she says she hates having to get out and put on lotion, six kinds of hair product, makeup and then style her hair. I secretly think she doesn't even like to raise her arms above her head, but I can't get her to admit it.

Eventually it's lunch time. BFF waits all morning for lunch. I try to make her wait until at least 11 am, but there have been a few times that she convinced me that 10:30 was just as good. Even though she is dying to eat, she doesn't really want to fix anything. She would eat Chinese food everyday if I let her. On one hand I can't blame her. I am about 95% sure that the rice noodles she loves are spiked with meth. I don't think an addiction level as high as BFF has could occur from mere food. I have her held off to only eating out once a week. She is still wringing my pockets dry.

BFF could spend the whole day with a book. No matter what pressing matter is at hand she carries one everywhere. Her book fettish is only rivaled by..... nothing, not even the rice noodles. In fact, the more she has to do, the harder it is to get the book out of her hands. The only things I can't get her to read...............are the things she is supposed to read.

I realized that if I were going to feed the kids a) before 8:00 pm b) something besides a pb&j or c) not cold cereal........that I was going to have to plan. BFF is the LEAST organized girl I have ever met. She doesn't want to plan ahead. It makes her out of breath. She actually told me once that she doesn't want to do anything that causes her to sweat, increase her heartbeat beyond resting heart rate, and that makes her uncomfortable physically or emotionally. I have goaded her into crock potting here and there, once with the promise of using a whole stick of butter because she loves butter.

When it's time to start getting ready for bed, BFF really puts up a fuss. The kids need to be showered and she hates it. First she doesn't like their whining. She has an amazingly low tolerance for noise. Superman once gave her a box of earplugs for Christmas. She also doesn't like water on the floor of the bathroom. I tried to tell her it makes it easier to mop when the puddles are that big, but once she has bed in her sights...........she's like a cattle stampede....unstoppable. If the kids make noise, take too long, laugh, run through the house naked, leave towels on the floor, spank each others wet bottoms, spill Victoria's Secret lotion on the carpet, or leave their dirty clothes in the bathroom, she thinks it's okay to tell them to go to bed without a bedtime story. I keep telling her that is a bad punishment.......even the 'experts' say never to take reading time away........but she's a tough cookie to convince.

Max likes to push my shirt up and lay on my stomach when he's tired. BFF actually will go along with this one because she can do it in a prone position. But once you get her laid out like that, you can't get her back up. If only I could convince Superman to cuddle with Max sometimes....... She claims she tired, but if the day went the way she likes, I can't figure out what from. I'll tell you who is tired..........ME.

BFF is exhausting. I get so sick of battling her at every turn. Everything is out of her comfort zone. She reminds me of a trickle of water...........just dripping and running around the resistance. I question all of the time what happened to the BFF of everyone else that I know. They seem to have ditched the little hussies..........or maybe they never got that attached. BFF has a demon like personality. I wonder if exorcism could part us?

Housekeeping Monthly in May 1955 says............

1. Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal — on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
2. Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
3. Clear away the clutter: Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.

4. Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands hand faces if they are small, comb their hair and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little
treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

5. Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer,
dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him.
Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

6. Some don'ts: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he's late
for dinner. Count this as minor compared to with what he might have gone through that
day.
7. Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie
down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and
offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to
relax and unwind.

8. Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival
is not the time. Let him talk first.

9. Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to
other places of entertainment; instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure,
his need to be home and relax.

10. The goal: To make your home a place of peace and order, where your husband can
can relax.

Would I.......could I........ I am not at all making fun of this. I actually wish it were more like this. On the eve of another week of training (ie.......home without protection from the children) I am wishing to time travel to the 1950's. I could wear the cutest dresses!!! heels, bows in my hair and my Superman would be home at 5:00 pm sharp.

The real deal is more like this.....
1. Dinner will be made and eaten long before he arrives. Even if there are any left overs he will refuse to eat them, turning to the box of Captain Crunch. The children will lament the empty box in the morning. Crying with dismay as I screech at them to move faster.

2. I am prepared for his arrival by either being out of the house with after school activities while he is changing uniforms to head out the door again.......or I will be unconscious with a bobby pin in my bangs and my favorite cowboy pajamas on. Most likely I will be drooling on the sheets or asleep in a book. His day may or may not have been boring.......18 hour drive or a bloody wreck. I may not know for days.

3. The clutter will be right were I left it when I drug off to bed. The homework will be on the counter, the puzzles on the kitchen table. My ADD has equipped me to begin putting the laundry away but not to finish.....therefore there will be a stack of clothes covering the couch.

4. The children will be prepared and asleep. Dandy, if only I were awake.

5. If he comes home in the dead of night, the noise will be only the fans giving us the breeze to take us through a good night. If he arrives during dinner I will be unable to quell the onslaught of "DADDY! DADDY! I did a back handspring and *blank's* dad got drunk while they were camping. Maddy threw all of her Care bears down the stairs. Popcorn, popcorn! Can I ride the four wheeler?" These are all shouted at once. And probably because they haven't seen Daddy for two days.

6. If I am awake I will try not to greet him with complaints.......the sheer volume of my screams and profuse weeping might give me away though. I have compassion over the fact that he had to clean up brains, change a tire on the freeway with semis speeding by, and kick someone out of college for drugs and alcohol.

7. How I would love to make him comfortable. Most likely he will have time to enter the closet and emerge in other work clothes. If I am lucky we will pass in the bathroom. I cannot give comfort. Next time I will leave a note, "Dr. Pepper is in the fridge and super size box of popcorn is on the shelf. Love you babe."

8. I do however listen. He will say where he is off to and his expected time or re-arrival. This, will be a gross miscalculation.

9. Make the evening his.........I sure will. He will be all alone at work without the decibels high enough to render one permanently deaf. He will be without food, hugs, kisses, homework, tumbling or snuggling, but the evening will belong to him. The day of strain and pressure will seep eerily into the night, with no one to mark it but himself.

10. Well, he sleeps well when he gets there, so I have to assume he feels peaceful enough.

This was not a complaint. The realities of a new century are stark. I am going to buy an A line skirt, an apron, some heals and a steak. I will meet this goal yet.

My New Motto

I do love a clean house......really I do. I just can't seem to get from cluttered to clean. I start off in one area and bounce around distractedly from one room to another. I have ADD in the cleaning area of my brain. I'm pretty sure if I were to have a CT scan it would show a pile of books, papers, laundry baskets and a wee farm full of cows, just like it had been copy and pasted right on to the cleaning part of my brain (that is in the hypothalmus or is it hypocampus?).

I sometimes wonder if I could get a diagnosis and medical coverage. Maybe my health insurance would pay for a maid. I wonder where that would fall in the DSM IV?

Until then.........I say, "A clean house is the sign of a wasted life.".

Bear World

Somewhere in the void of America that is Idaho.......is bear world. Everyone that had ever been to Bear World said we would scratch out our own eyes with regret if we didn't go. So on the way back from Yellowstone.........we did. Mostly the choice was made once nature let us down and all of the bear and moose in Yellowstone hid from prying eyes.

Mads now wants her own pet deer.

Which doesn't seem like a bad idea considering they survive on nothing but shoelaces.

Baby bears. If you want to spend as much as you spent on the whole vacation, you too can feed a baby cub a bottle. We knew forking out the money would make us scratch our eyes out with regret.

Yes, that is a picture of a window reflection. I cannot bring myself to break a rule even when every one else is.........so when the caretakers (ie teen age boy at the gate) said DO NOT roll down your window.......well I didn't. So all of the bear pictures also have pictures overlaying them of my legs or Bear World pamphlets on the dash.

Griz. All alone so that he doesn't eat anyone else.

The white elk. Pretty cool.

All in all it was an okay place. There were little amusement rides also which the kids loved and I had to keep pulling them off to look at the animals. We had a great time being together though so I guess it was worth it.

Jellystone Park

Two days in Yellowstone gave us just enough time to see some great stuff and far too much time for me to spend with the hordes of other vacationers!


Terraces at Mammoth

I didn't get quite the right angle for the effect I wanted. Superman wasn't thrilled that I would make our baby pose like this.......but it was too good to resist.

The LONG trail down to the falls. One of the families behind us had a girl that counted the steps. She said there were 339. I bet there were more for Superman. He had to carry Max and come back for Mads when she got tired.

The breath taking canyon where the falls dropped to.

Finally at the bottom. You can't really tell how big they are. We were there for 3.5 seconds before the other tourists pushed us out of the way and we started back up.....only 339 more steps to go!

The kids kept seeing signs that said to stay clear of the wildlife because they are dangerous. They were a bit worried they were going to be gored by this buffalo.

A break at the lake to pose for pics!

Mads preferred to take some model shots instead of looking at the buffalo we risked our lives crossing traffic to see.

Big Daddy

A huge elk herd in North Yellowstone

Madison.........at Madison

That's what it's all about.

These two were trashed by this point.

After boiling in the heat while waiting for Old Faithful........we took the walk around the area and saw some other beautiful geysers.

Chillin ..... waiting for a cheese stick and some Gatorade.

Like it says Continental Divide

The sweetest little lilly pond right next to the Continental Divide.
Like Mads likes to say 'gorgeosity'.

These hot pots were some of the most fascinating and beautiful things we saw. The colors were so clear and gorgeous. I can't even use words to tell how great they were.